AND NOW THE TAX FORECLOSURES BEGIN!

Millions of dollars in late special property taxes are forcing some cities and districts to threaten delinquent taxpayers with foreclosure.

IS ANY COUNTY EXEMPT FROM THE HOUSING CRASH? GUESS NOT!

Apparently even San Francisco, the city on the hill (or the one with the hills, has a foreclosure problem and falling values.

See ABC News San Francisco

BOUGHT A HOME IN STOCKTON, MERCED OR VALLEJO-FAIRFIELD IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS? THERE IS A 90% CHANCE THAT YOU ARE UPSIDEDOWN ON YOUR MORTGAGE.

According to Bloomberg if you bought a home in Stockton, Merced or Vallejo-Fairfield area in the last five years, you have a 90% chance that you are upside-down on your mortgage. If you own a home in the Inland Empire (Riverside-San Bernardino), Bakersfield, Yuba City, El Centro and/or Madera, you have a 80% chance of being upside-down on your mortgage.

Then there is a warning about the future of property values and the impact of foreclosures contained in an article from the Fresno Bee. The warning points to the impact of interest only, teaser rate, liar loans originated from 2003 to 2006. Most of the loans made during this period were these easy-to-obtain loans. All of these loans will be resetting starting this year and through 2011. Virtually all of these borrowers are currently upside-down on their mortgages. How many of these borrowers will stick around to pay a mortgage payment that doubles on a home that they are upside-down on? The foreclosures throughout California have just started.

It is 11:00 p.m. where is your property tax assessment?

NEW MORTGAGE QUALIFICATION RULES PUT MORE PRESSURE ON HOME SALES AND FUEL FALLING PRICES

What goes up must come down. Once upon a time, mortgages were given to anyone who could state an income and sign his/her name on loan documents. Easy credit fueled quick sales and rising home prices.

Where are we now? The new stringent regulations from the banking industry are a knee-jerk reaction to years of almost no regulation. These new rules will make obtaining a home loan an almost impossible task for the average applicant. With this new difficulty, the number of qualified borrowers will be but a fraction of the number needed to stabilize the continued falling values.

All of this means... homeowners should understand this devaluation is a long-term problem not likely to change for many years to come. Get your property taxes lowered this year and plan on doing this for years to come.
See USA Today “Mortgage rules changes skewer some sales”

SACRAMENTO AREA HOMES LOSE 25% OF TOTAL EQUITY IN TWO YEARS!

Second only to the Modesto real estate market, Sacramento area homeowners lost 25% of their total equity in the last two years. In the last two years the percentage of equity slipped from 57% to just 28%.

Considering that a big percentage of first-time zero equity buyers were included in the number from two years ago, the story of erosion is even more dramatic.
See Sacramento Bee

DEPITE THE RECENT RAY OF HOPE, REAL HOME SALE FIGURES POINT TO A CONTINUED SLUMP. YOUR PROPERTY TAXES WILL HAVE TO BE APPEALED FOR YEARS TO COME.

Figures lie and liars figure. Each time a tiny ray of sunshine glimmers through the dark clouds of the current housing crisis, the media, the government, Wall Street, and a few economists proclaim sight of the end. Unfortunately, upon closer examination you might be tempted to say that what’s happened is the end of the beginning. See Who Doesn't Understand the Pending Home Sales Index?

All of this means that your home’s value is not likely to start increasing in the near future. To the contrary, conditions point to a continuing housing price slide. The future points to more foreclosures. As an example, the adjustable teaser rate liar loans with a programmed 5-year reset were being made through the first half of 2007. Even more important, during the last part of 2005 and all of 2006 when the housing market was showing the first signs of weakness, these loans were a vast majority of the loans being made. We have not seen a majority of the foreclosures from these loans that were originated in 2004 or the loans from 2005, 2006 and the first part of 2007. Foreclosures hitting the housing market do more than any other force in determining the values.

The point that needs to be examined is that the value of your home is not likely to increase during the next 3 to 4 years. To the contrary, your home value may continue to slide. All of which means, under the current system your property taxes will have to be appealed each year for years and years to come. Unless you like paying more than your fair share, I suggest you educate yourself on the appeal process.

NATIONAL TAXPAYERS UNION ESTIMATES ONLY 10% OF HOMEOWNERS NATIONWIDE PROTEST PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENT.

A recent Yahoo article quoted the National Taxpayers Union estimate that just 10 percent of homeowners nationwide protest their property assessments.
In this same article, the assessor of L.A. County once again points out that their idea of helping the homeowner is to reassess a fraction of the eligible properties, reducing the assessments by less than half of the estimated property devaluations.
The big question, where is the outrage? As California homeowners are struggling to keep their homes amid falling property values and ever-increasing cost of living, it is nice to know that local governments are just as greedy as ever.